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Theres a good chance that Paul Giamatti is going to lose the Academy Award for Best Actor this evening.
Giamatti, though, is probably prepared for disappointment.
After all, hes spent much of his career playing losers of one kind or another.
Winning an Oscar just wouldnt square with the underdog arc of his oeuvre.
Because of his talent for playing unglamorous slobs and schlubs, Giamatti is an easy actor to typecast.
But the truth is that he has plenty of range.
Which is to say, Giamatti can go as big or small as you need him to go.
Giamatti, more than almost any other actor working today, never hesitates to play a pitiable man.
Hes an overachieving expert on underachievers.
Thats worthy of an award, even if the Academy has so far begged to differ.
40.Past Midnight(1991)
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Everyone has to start somewhere.
39.The Hawk Is Dying(2006)
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38.Gunpowder Milkshake(2021)
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Having sat through the movie, we can definitely relate.
37.Saving Private Ryan(1998)
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36.Rock of Ages(2012)
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Remarkably, he comes out looking no worse than anyone else in this deeply embarrassing hair-metal jukebox musical.
35.The Hangover Part II(2011)
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34.Big Mommas House(2000)
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33.Straight Outta Compton(2015)
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Oily Showbiz Parasite is a whole shtick for Giamatti.
32.I Think Were Alone Now(2018)
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Giamatti is one of those actors who can earn a smile just by showing up unexpectedly.
31.Safe Men(1998)
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30.The Amazing Spider-Man 2(2014)
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Honestly, his undercard heavy is more fun than the villains proper.
29.Jungle Cruise(2021)
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28.The Truman Show(1998)
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27.John Dies at the End(2012)
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26.Fred Claus(2007)
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A funny idea on paper, casting Paul Giamatti as a not-so-jolly, perennially put-upon St. Nick.
25.All Is Bright(2013)
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You buy him as a hardened criminal no small feat, given his history of playing much meeker dudes.
24.The Last Station(2009)
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One of the actors stealth heel turns.
23.Big Fat Liar(2002)
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For viewers of a certain age, this isthePaul Giamatti performance.
Talk about understanding the assignment and stooping to finish it.
22.Cold Souls(2009)
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21.Love & Mercy(2015)
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But the persuasiveness of Giamattis performance as the unscrupulous doctor comes down to how much professional authority he projects.
20.Saving Mr. Banks(2013)
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Travers and Walt Disney.
19.Pretty Bird(2008)
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18.Planet of the Apes(2001)
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17.The Ides of March(2011)
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16.Barneys Version(2010)
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15.Private Parts(1997)
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Funnier even than his outbursts (You are the motherfucking Antichrist!)
is his defeated disbelief as Sterns ballooning popularity makes him unfireable.
14.Duets(2000)
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Has the man ever played Willy Loman onstage?Duetssuggests that he should.
13.12 Years a Slave(2013)
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12.The Phenom(2016)
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Youre a great talker, the athlete eventually says of the man on the other end of the office.
11.Cinderella Man(2005)
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Joy is not an emotion we often see expressed by this great actor.
He lost the Oscar but gained a new dimension of crowd-pleasing charisma all the same.
10.Storytelling(2001)
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A director who loves pathetic men, joining forces with a star who specializes in them.
Its a match made in cringe-comedy hell!
Fully in his wheelhouse, Giamatti emphasizes his characters fraudulent delusions of integrity.
9.Lady in the Water(2006)
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M. Night Shyamalan has a talent for nurturing the tender, suppressed melancholy of movie stars.
8.The Illusionist(2006)
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For all the slobs on his resume, Giamatti cleans up nice.
Its a largely reactive part, as the detective stays two steps behind Edward Nortons feather-ruffling title character.
Its a master class in climactically realizing stuff, in processing a twist ending in real time.
7.Shoot Em Up(2007)
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Elmer Fudd to Clive Owens Bugs Bunny a true cartoon of supervillain depravity.
Plenty of less faintly ironic bullet operas present villains you love to hate.
6.Cosmopolis(2012)
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5.Private Life(2018)
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Even the big bedroom fight with Kathryn Hahn toward the end of the film avoids phony theatrics.
Such emotionally specific subject matter a kind of procedural of thwarted parenthood requires nuance.
4.Win Win(2011)
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Another perfectly simpatico pairing of filmmaker and actor.
But Giamatti never pleads for our understanding.
3.The Holdovers(2023)
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Giamatti could do a mean Ebenezer Scrooge.
2.American Splendor(2003)
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Harvey Pekar is the role Paul Giamatti was born to play.
1.Sideways(2004)
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